Asus a8n-e..

[toastyFeet]

Hi Amaroque,

First and foremost let me list the components in my system:

Antec SLK3000B Case
FSP 400Watt ATX2 PSU
ASUS A8N-E Motherboard (1007.002, 6.66 nForce)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
CoolerMaster Hyper6+ heatsink/fan
Corsair 2GB TWINX3200C2
ASUS EN7800GTX 256MB
Seagate 80GB SATANCQ
Audigy 2 ZS

Theres also an fdd and floppy drive.

As you can see my setup is similar to yours. I don't have a custom heatsink on the motherboard chipset.

At the moment I am running this system stock. I have tried ocing but the best I can get is around 2.6GHz...

The CPU is also running a bit too hot for my likes - minimum 30C at idle. Also, the Hyper6+ doesn't seem to cool the CPU any better than the stock AMD hs/fan. Again, this is all at stock.

I'm going to order in a higher wattage PSU first since this might be where the problem lies.

I've read online at AMDZone that 2.8GHz can be achieved on air cooling - just as you have done. I am disappointed that I haven't been able to reach this speed (yet). I had an Athlon 64 3000+ in this same system running at 2.65GHz at stock voltage with stock HS/Fan so I guess I was expecting at least a 10-20% overclock with this CPU.

Also I didn't reformat after installing the 4800+ - I simply took out the 3000+, stuck in the 4800+ rebooted and Windows installed the multiprocessor driver.

I've seen a review that got 2.7GHz with the standard HS/Fan.

Do you have any tips or ideas?

Also, the system has only been running for 4 hours... perhaps I should wait a day or so before the Ceramique sets in?

Thanks for your help!

 

[toastyFeet]

Also, its a version 2.xx motherboard revision a3

 

[cornholio2]

:thumbsup: It's nice that all A8N-E owners are helping each other. I decided o clean install my system since I'm experiencing restarts during web surfing and online gaming. One thing I forgot is the order of installing all those programs like the updates. Help me enumerate the order from installing the OS XP Pro to the drivers or whichever will follow the OS. The first two I know is the OS XP Pro and then the SP2 and then ...................

 

[agent2099]

Originally posted by: toastyFeet
Hi Amaroque,

First and foremost let me list the components in my system:

Antec SLK3000B Case
FSP 400Watt ATX2 PSU
ASUS A8N-E Motherboard (1007.002, 6.66 nForce)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
CoolerMaster Hyper6+ heatsink/fan
Corsair 2GB TWINX3200C2
ASUS EN7800GTX 256MB
Seagate 80GB SATANCQ
Audigy 2 ZS

Theres also an fdd and floppy drive.

As you can see my setup is similar to yours. I don't have a custom heatsink on the motherboard chipset.

At the moment I am running this system stock. I have tried ocing but the best I can get is around 2.6GHz...

The CPU is also running a bit too hot for my likes - minimum 30C at idle.

30C idle is hot?

 

[funkapimpalicious]

My A8N is only about a month old, and the northbridge fan has just started into its "shop vac sound emulation" phase. I am also going with a Zalman NB47J with a 120mm fan blowing on it from the front. That should hopefully do the trick.

"You just have to pop the expanding pins out of the back."

JustWhitman, do you really need to do that from behind the mobo? was it a pain in the ass?

Thanks for all the recommendations and links all!

 

[hofinder23]

Originally posted by: funkapimpalicious
My A8N is only about a month old, and the northbridge fan has just started into its "shop vac sound emulation" phase. I am also going with a Zalman NB47J with a 120mm fan blowing on it from the front. That should hopefully do the trick.

"You just have to pop the expanding pins out of the back."

JustWhitman, do you really need to do that from behind the mobo? was it a pain in the ass?

Thanks for all the recommendations and links all!

yes you do have to pop out the pins in the back... yes that was a pain. i am also going to use a 120mm fan on my zalman nb47j as i feel that it's almost always hot to the touch (but i haven't installed it yet.)

 

[hofinder23]

i still haven't fixed my network problem and my audio card problem for windows XP 64 bit edition. any help please?

Originally posted by: hofinder23
i just put this mobo and a 3200 venice core together.

I updated the BIOS to 1005 and have been having lots of problems getting my network card and audio to work with windows XP 64 bit edition. i downloaded the ASUS marvell ethernet driver and that made my network card show up say that it's working, but still never connected. then i downloaded the nvidia drivers from here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_winxp64_amd_6.66.html

i installed them and my comp doesn't start up unless i go safe mode and uninstall these drivers. any ideas on how to fix my network to connect to the internet (other comps i have on router can connect) and my audio driver?

 

[toastyFeet]

just some corrections to my last post:

30C is good I guess - I was expecting temps closer to my a64 3000+

also i used the auto feature in the BIOS for the CPU vcore on the a64 3000+ which brought the voltage up as necessary to get to 2.65GHz

i wish i could achieve a 40 - 50% oc on the 4800+ - 3.4 - 3.6GHz dual core a64!!!!

i guess i can only dream

 

[toastyFeet]

just an update - installed a new Antec 550W ATX2 EPS PSU - still no go @ 3 HTT 225 x 12 1.4vcore (2.7GHz)

I took a look at your cpuz screen online Amaroque - the voltage is missing - what voltage are you using to get to 2.8GHz?

 

[toastyFeet]

running @ 2.64GHz using ASUS AI Overclock 10% - the cpu is running at 75C at load - im only running one instance of Prime95... is that an acceptable temp?

 

[funkapimpalicious]

Ewww, can't wait for that *sigh*

Thanks for the heads up though

I was also thinking of adding some swiffer pad material to my filter if it's breathable enough...just to snag all the dust. Do you know if the factory filter is any good? Also, weill that static properties of the swiffer pad harm anything? thanks,

 

[edwardhchan]

Hey guys. I've been working with a new A8N-E Rev. 2 with the X2 4200+. I can't get this thing to overclock from the BIOS. It's strange, I set a higher clock, back down the memory and HT bus for safety, and boost the voltage a bit to the processor. Also, I locked the PCI and PCIe busses at 33 and 100 respectively. No matter what I do, the board will reset to 200 MHz FSB upon booting to windows XP SP2. It keeps the memory and HT settings as I set them... Also, it doesn't matter whether CnQ is on or off. The stranger part is that in the BIOS upon rebooting, it seems to register the overclock, saying my proc is running at 2420 MHz at a 220MHz bus. Regardless, when it goes into windows, it's back to 2200/200.

Once I'm in windows, I can use AI Booster to increase the speed, but I really would rather use the BIOS to do my OC, so that I can still use CnQ.

Anyone have a suggestion? I've tried BIOS 1005, 1006, and 1007.002, and none will fix the problem.

Here's my config:

A8N-E board Rev.2
Athlon 64 X2 4200+
1 GB Corsair TwinX1024-3200C2 (3-3-3-8, 2.65V, 2T, set manually in anticipation of OC)
Gigabyte 6600GT PCIe
PATA Maxtor Drive
PATA Benq DVD+-RW
450W Antec PS
Win XP SP2, Nforce 6.66, Forceware 77.77, CPUZ and nothing else (clean reformat still didn't fix it)

That's it, nothing special on the hardware front... Any suggestions? Thanks!

Ed

[edit]

Just thought of something to try when I get home later... maybe I'll try a different OS, like CentOS or MacOS and see if they will hold the overclock... I'll report back when I try it.

 

[funkapimpalicious]

Hey Ed,
do you mean A8N-E for your mobo, or K8N-E?

 

[edwardhchan]

Sorry, fixed! I meant the Asus A8N-E...

Leave it to the mobo manufacturers to come up with a8n, an8, k8n, etc to confuse us!

 

[edwardhchan]

OK... Here's a follow up to my experiments... the inability to overclock does not depend on the OS. So, it's a BIOS issue I think. I tried MacOS and Linux, and neither held the overclock settings in the BIOS. Any ideas?

 

[Sum]

Hi everyone, I've been reading this thread since I got this mobo and it's been very useful for a beginner like me. I have a question about the q-fan setting.

After reading about what it does I decided to turn it on. My CPU fan went from 3000 RPM down to a much quieter 1360 afterwards and still idles at 37°. Last night I tuned off the computer, and when I booted it up this morning the bootup gave me a warning that the CPU fan RPM was too low. I went into the bios and it showed the fan fluctuating from ~3000 RPM to 6000 RPM (but didn't 'sound' like it was going that fast at all).

I exit the bios making no changes, and it gives me the same message. This time I go in and the RPM is stays at 0 so now i'm worried, but not worried enough to restart it again hehe. The third time it boots normally and goes into windows. Everything is fine now. RPM is at a steady 1360.

I have everything stock in my comp, so I don't know why it would do that. Anyone know what might be going on?

 

[edwardhchan]

You have the Q-fan techonology enabled in the Hardware Monitor part of the Power savings part of the BIOS. That's why your fan speed varies, and may fall below the specified minimum there. So you can turn off Q-fan or lower the speed limit, both in that part of the BIOS.

Now anyone have a thought about my Overclocking issues? If not, I'm probably gonna exchange the board for something else...

 

[Sum]

Hi Edward, I had a similar experience with my mobo not overclocking even though I changed the FSB and multiplier settings in the BIOS. This thread Asus A8N-E HTF stuck at 5x? seems to have the answer. Try returning the settings to default, reboot, then go in to the BIOS and the overclocking should actually work this time. I tried it myself and it solved the problem. I'm using version 1005 if that helps.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Sometimes the RPM signal on fans just doesn't respond, so the motherboard thinks the RPM is actually 0 while it is spinning.

If doing the resetting to defaults doesn't unlock your HT, try using BIOS version 1001.

 

[edwardhchan]

I figured it out! The problem was I've been updating the BIOS in Windows using AsusUpdate. This time I went to 1006 using AWDFLASH in DOS and that really cleaned out the BIOS, and now my setting stick! THank goodness. It seems the windows utility isn't doing a good job of updating. Anyways, the command line for DOS that I used in case anyone needs to use it is:

AWDFLASH XXXXXXXX.BIN /py /sn /cc /cd

This should clear everything out in the BIOS and reset to defaults for you. Hope this helps you guys with BIOS settings not sticking.

Ed

 

[mscbuck]

Would just like some tips for you professionals.

Venice 3000+
2x512MB Crucial Ballistix PC3200
Asus A8N-E (obviously) BIOS 1006-003 (June 28th BIOS)

What would you propse about some settings for overclocking?

My settings right now are

230FSBx9 for the CPU at 1.4875 V
2-3-2-6 2T 2.8V for the RAM
HTT = Auto

I tried to go to 250FSBx9, 2.5-3-3-6 2.8V with the RAM, but wouldn't even get through a 3DMark Demo.

Help would be appreciated, and perhaps an explanation of what the HTT can do to affect overclocking.

Go A8N-E!

 

[blurp]

Originally posted by: mscbuck
Would just like some tips for you professionals.

Venice 3000+
2x512MB Crucial Ballistix PC3200
Asus A8N-E (obviously) BIOS 1006-003 (June 28th BIOS)

What would you propse about some settings for overclocking?

My settings right now are

230FSBx9 for the CPU at 1.4875 V
2-3-2-6 2T 2.8V for the RAM
HTT = Auto

I tried to go to 250FSBx9, 2.5-3-3-6 2.8V with the RAM, but wouldn't even get through a 3DMark Demo.

Help would be appreciated, and perhaps an explanation of what the HTT can do to affect overclocking.

Go A8N-E!

Hi mate,

You need to set your HTT to 4x. Read this Thread if the HTT settings don't stick in Windows.

When might also have to use a memory divider (333 instead of 400) because your memory might not reach 230 but i Think it is ok. Use Memtest to validate your memory and Prime95 to test your CPU and more or less memory.

 

[sandeep108]

Well, I just updated to the 1006 bios (I already had updated to the 6.66 drivers from the 6.53 drivers earlier) and everything seems just fine and even spiffier. I also updated to the 77.77 display drivers from the 77.72 and things seem real nice at the moment.

I do not have raid, did not install the NAM and nVidia firewall and have an Audigy 2 ZS so no audio drivers either. Only time will tell whether the 1006 bios has permanently got rid of the intermittent HDD0 device paging errors (they reduced considerably after 6.66)

 

[bcoupland]

I just set up my new system, an A8N-E w/NB47J, 3000+ Venice, and an eVGA 7800GT. The board will post, but under hardware monitoring, the CPU reads as 4300MHz or something rediculous like that and i have no overclocking options. My board is a revision 2.00, and I was thinking that the bios version would support my Venice. First of all, how do i check which bios version I have, and how can i update the bios? I'm no noob to building systems, but have never updated the bios before. I am hoping that I will not have to unseat the cpu and use a winchester or newcastle to flash the bios. I haven'y loaded windows yet. Should I? I would prefer to update the bios from a floppy, using the non-windows method. I can't find any info at the Asus site. Thanks. All help is appreciated.

UPDATE: bios is version 1005. It should seemingly support venice, but doesn't appear to completely.

 

[GMtheBest]

bcoupland, Try getting into the bios and loading setup defaults. If that doesnt resolve the issue, try clearing the CMOS. You shouldnt have to replace the CPU to flash the BIOS, step by step instructions on BIOS flashing are in the manual